A couple of months ago, Sentence and I got the opportunity to play three shows out in Colorado (Sentenceís home state, woop woop) with Sage Francis and B. Dolan. The experience wasÖ amazing.

Right before we took the stage at the Mishawaka Theater outside of Fort Collins, to a crowd of a couple hundred people, Sentence and I looked at each other. No words needed to be spoken. We were both thinking the same thing: ďHoly shit, this is all really happening.Ē

I first met Sage Francis in the summer of 2002. I was aware of his music through my childhood friend, Dave (known in hip hop circles as beatboxer MC Squared) ó but all I knew about him from people that had seen his show was that he was craaaaaaazy, maaaaaaaaan. Sage was headlining a show at the Knitting Factory, and was looking for someone to DJ for him ó he had hollered at MC Squared to beatbox during his set, and Squared had hollered at me to see if I was interested (I DJíed for a little bit back in the day). I agreed.

The first thing Sage ever said to me was ďI think that you donít think that I think youíre a DJ.Ē For reals.

I donít remember much of the show. Nerves and excitement can do that to a kid. I remember being blown away. I remember finding my lady after the show, and her being blown away. I remember the crowd being blown away. I told Sage at the end of the night ďSorry for sucking,Ē because I am self-deprecating when I am nervous. I still cringe when I think about that.

The time that passed in between that night and now, and how I got to the point where I am writing this, is not important to anyone except me. And Iím sure itís not interesting enough for anyone to want to read. The fact is: Metermaids released an album on Strange Famous Records. That little icon (of Sageís face!), which has appeared on countless records that have influenced my life, let alone my taste in music, is on our record. Holy shit, this is all really happening.

Sage Francis, B. Dolan, Jared Paul, Prolyphic ó they all had this same icon on their albums. These are dudes I listened to for years, and watched on stage. Now I can consider all of them friends. These are people that I love. Thatís what being a part of SFR means to me.

Sage Francis is even funnier in person than he is on the internet (which, I think, is saying something). He is much kinder than people give him credit for. His honesty with me, over the years, is something that I value more and more as I get older. He is a legend, and he is only getting better.

B. Dolan is fucking talented. Like, scary talented. His poem about Evil Kneival made me cry in the back of a giant, crowded theater in Portland, Oregon. His poem about Justin Timberlake made me tear up with laughter in a tiny ass club in Manhattan. His set in Colorado Springs left me speechless. He can be too negative sometimes, and he deserves more recognition than he gets.

Jared Paul is all energy. He gets a lot of shit from people on the internet about his political stance, but those people donít understand where itís coming from. I will never talk shit about someone who does what they say they are going to do, someone who believes things can be better and then goes about making them better. He has been so supportive of Metermaids, and is always a welcome prescence in my home. His poetry is powerful, and PFA is a great fucking band made up of great fucking dudes.

Prolyphic is one of my favorite people Iíve met through this rap game. Iím always geeked to hang out with him. He is fucking funny, and he is a Jets fan that lives in Patriots territory ó so he is either brave or nuts, either of which are important qualities in anyone I want to hang out with.

Storm Davis is one of the funniest dudes Iíve ever met. He is also a really fucking dope rapper. He has been so good to us ó bringing us up to play Providence, letting us crash at his spot, etc. I text him time to time just to say hi, because I know he will text something funny back.

(I havenít met anyone else on SFR ó Buddy Peace, Buck65, Cecil Otter, Sleep, Scroobius Pip, 2mex. But Iím huge fans of all of theirs. Especially Buck65. Having Buck on our album is beyond mind-blowing. Also Cecil Otter. I think dude is amazing. Regardless, Iím excited at the possibility of being able to call these guys friends as well.)

Thatís what being a part of SFR means to me. It means being a part of something that I can stand behind on every level. I love these people as people as much as I love their music.
Chances are we will never see the same level of success as the majority of the artists on the label, and that is fine with me. We didnít fight to be a part of SFR so we could blow up. We fought to be a part of the team that we believed in, above all else.

Sean (aka Swell of the Metermaids)

Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:47 pm

b. dolanFBI agent

Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 5705

All class, as usual. Thanks for the kind words, fellas.

My negative orientation has been finely calibrated to balance the bullshit some of my peers engage in, though. It almost never overwhelms me... more of a pet than a cancer. ;)

Last edited by b. dolan on Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:25 pm; edited 1 time in total

Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:01 pm

futuristxen

Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 19377
Location: Tighten Your Bible Belt

Nice write up. SFR is made up of some pretty class individuals. Primarily B and Sage, who are both superhuman people. It's a shame sometimes how those attributes get exploited by supervillians of all shape shifting sort. But it's a credit to the human spirit that neither, but especially Sage, have become a mass murderer. When I think of how aggravated people make me at even the slightest thing, I become acutely aware that I could not deal with a large world wide fanbase on this level.

Both are great at their craft too, on top of it all.

I miss living in Rhode Island...

Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:25 pm

Sage FrancisSelf Fighteous

Joined: 30 Jun 2002
Posts: 21654

I actually didn't know that you and I went back that far. I know that I met Sentence in Colorado around 2001 when he produced "Day Grows Old" for Slug and I. And that was a few years before you and Sentence ever met. It's kind of crazy how things played out to bring us to the point we're at now.

As you probably already know, SFR more or less made an official announcement last year that we would not be signing anymore acts. But then you came along with the songs with 9th Wonder, and some of the best material I've ever heard from your camp. That's not why we made an exception though. It's the fact that you're so willing to help out on all levels of the business and you're some of the nicest people we've ever worked with. Of course, now that you're part of the SFR machine, you see how stressful and fiery things can get behind the scenes, and that almost always wears out the artist as well as their opinion of their label. The fact that you have kept your heads about you and you still have nice things to say about us all.........that, as B. Dolan said, is class.

You delivered a whopper of an album and we're going to do our best to make sure it stays in the conscience of the public. I can't wait to see how these songs are performed live now that a lot of the crowd will be familiar with them. I'll have a tough time keeping off the stage during your set in Portland and Seattle. haha. You'll have to come up during my set so we can do the SFR huddle again.

much love, fam.

Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:25 pm

The Mean Eagle

Joined: 07 Apr 2003
Posts: 532
Location: san diego

This was really cool and made me re-realize how thankful I am to Sage too. I'm so glad to be a part, even without being an artist, of the SFR family.

I don't believe I've ever met you Metermaids guys, but it's a great album and if Uncle Frank brought you into the circle I can bet you're legit dudes.

<3, Jess aka Big Handsome

Thu Sep 08, 2011 8:03 pm

medicinemanHALFLING

Joined: 21 Apr 2007
Posts: 1393
Location: Iowa City

Salute, brethren. Been waiting on your album for sometime since that EP and it does not disappoint. I just lost my job this week so no scrilla to cop it yet but that will be happening as soon as possible. I'm sincerely as excited about you guys' sound as any emerging act that I know of right now and intend to do my part to make sure you get hurd, ya hurd? The reaction within my listening circle/micro-'fanbase' has been highly highly favorable. It plays in Peoria, as it were.

Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:26 pm

xGasPricesx

Joined: 23 May 2008
Posts: 1591

This kind of stuff is why I really love this place. Even just as a fan, there's a definite community feeling to this label and forum. I've actually made real life friends from this place, and had a blast on my last trip to DC at the Stewart/Colbert rally thanks to crash and his friends (shout out to redball as well who I got to talk with for a little, definitely was nice to meet him in person.)

SFR shows, in my experience, have this same kind of atmosphere as well. I was visiting a friend out east and we got to catch one of the Church of Love and Ruin shows. She had never heard of B. Dolan before and I purposefully didn't tell her anything about him or what she was in for that night. We got there a bit early, as the doors had pretty much just opened and I spotted B. hanging out with what I came to find out was Shane Hall (MessiahCarey). We went over just to say hello and what not, expecting to say a quick little something and move along, but it ended up turning into an actual (short) conversation until B. had to go get some shit ready. Ended up talking to Shane for a little after that, which was great as well because I used really enjoy a lot of his posts back when he still posted here.

B. was running around like a madman the whole show making sure everything went off without a hitch, which he seemed to accomplish that night, but in between all that he would actually stop by and talk to us about whatever. I guess I can't really explain this without sounding like a really nerdy fan, and I guess that's what this is. But, to go to one of your favorite artists shows and for them to make conversation with you is a really great feeling. It brings the show experience to a whole new level, into the unforgettable territory for sure. Also, Jamie Dewolf was really great on and off-stage at the show as well, definitely an entertaining guy. I would love to see him and B. do a lot more stuff together in the future.

These are just a few of the reasons why I love this label so much, even just as a fan. It's more than just another record label. It's a giant community of all kinds of interesting and talented people that I like to consider myself a small part of. There's a reason I spend more money on SFR than any other label, and it's not just cause of the insanely high proportion of artists that I like that are on it, although that definitely plays a part as well.

p.s. I swear I'm not a crazy person or anything.

tl;dr: B. Dolan talked to me once at a show and it made me feel cool, so cool that I've decided to give SFR a bunch of my monies.

Last edited by xGasPricesx on Sat Sep 10, 2011 8:00 pm; edited 1 time in total

Sat Sep 10, 2011 4:04 pm

selfworth

Joined: 07 Jun 2004
Posts: 1109
Location: maryland

it's always nice to see people that have kind things to say about others, especially when it is an artist that they admire, usually people never live up to expectations and fans end up a bit jaded from the experience because the person wasn't who they wanted them to be. it, i think, may be especially true with sage, considering that he has had is fair share of people putting him down for his approach to things and his personality. i myself have met you many times through out the years at shows. i'm pretty sure the first time was in '01 at the ottobar. you were, in my opinion, just regular fellow that just didn't like to deal with the bullshit of drunk assholes and people blowing smoke in your face, which i can completely understand and i think that sage proved over the years that he is a straight shooter and stand up dude. even though i'm not big on some of the artists on the label, all of them that i have met over the years have all seemed to have been pretty genuine and sincere folks. so i too say cheers to SFR!

Sat Sep 10, 2011 4:42 pm

xGasPricesx

Joined: 23 May 2008
Posts: 1591

selfworth wrote: may be especially true with sage, considering that he has had is fair share of people putting him down for his approach to things and his personality.

I think these are also a lot of the same reason why I like him.

Also, to be clear about my post above, I don't ever expect any of that stuff I said from any SFR artist or anything. I definitely understand that touring is very stressful in itself, and that there is all kinds of other pressure and stress from other things going on at the same time. I understand that artists whose work I like are often not going to just want to talk to me, or maybe they've just got so much else going on at the moment they don't have the patience or time to. I certainly don't think I'm entitled to meeting them or anything just because I bought their cd or like their music though.

I would never expect to go to a B. show or a Sage show and just be able to have a conversation with them, but when it does happen, it can be a really cool experience. SFR has given me more of these experiences than any other label ever has, and for that, I am very grateful.

Sat Sep 10, 2011 5:01 pm

prolyphic81

Joined: 10 Jan 2007
Posts: 390

The Metermaids are two of the most genuine people I've ever met in hip-hop and I wish them the best.

Swell have your butt call me sometime.

Mon Sep 12, 2011 11:21 am

Captiv8

Joined: 25 Aug 2006
Posts: 8546
Location: Third Coast

Can I ask why you post as Bob Harris? My curiosity is massively piqued.

"Sage Francis is even funnier in person than he is on the internet (which, I think, is saying something). He is much kinder than people give him credit for. His honesty with me, over the years, is something that I value more and more as I get older."

Well said, my friend. It's been a crazy trip these past 11 or so years here. I tend to lurk in the background until something worthy arises, but, believe you me, I read this forum daily, bi-daily even.

I'll be straight up honest as well, I like the old Sage. The guy who sent me an email after I spazzturded upon his just then burgeoning mail out business. There will never be another 'Personal Journals". That album hit me like a Michael Jackson fan waiting for the next song, and then 'Thriller' came out. Not so much zombies, but you get my drift.